Border incursions rocket 359% 'Our agents are being attacked and our sovereignty violated at alarming rates'

from WorldNetDaily

Foreign government incursions into the United States rocketed 359 percent from 2007 to 2008, and the nation is under attack in San Diego, according to a new report from Judicial Watch.

"These new Homeland Security documents indisputably show there is a crisis on our border with Mexico," said Tom Fitton, president of the Washington watchdog organization.

"Our agents are being attacked and our sovereignty violated at alarming rates," he said.

The public interest organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption said the new 2008 report from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, "BorderStat Violence, FY 2008 Year in Review," reveals a sharp increase in violence on the U.S. border with Mexico.

The violence has been highlighted in the news recently, with armed Mexican drug armies battling it out on a daily basis, leaving bodies strewn throughout border cities in Mexico and even extending their impact into the U.S.

Judicial Watch said the Obama administration was forced to release the document through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security.

The report, linked on the Judicial Watch website, includes these highlights:

• The largest increase in assaults on U.S. agents and officers was in the San Diego district, where attacks rose 48 percent from 2007 to 2008.
• There were 147 incursions at or between ports of entry for Customs and Border Protection components in 2008, up from 32 in 2007, an explosive rise of 359 percent.
• There were 1,325 incidents of violence occurring at or between the Ports of Entry against CBP agents and officers, resulting in a 23 percent increase from 1,073 in FY 2007.
• Ninety-seven percent of all incidents of violence against CBP agents and officers occurred on the southwest border.
• There were 227 assaults against CBP officers at the Ports of Entry in FY 2008 as compared to 85 in FY 2007, an increase of 167 percent.

Secretary of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, already under fire for a department report condemning those who oppose abortion, worry about lax border security or support the 2nd Amendment as "extremists," recently turned down an offer for increased funding from the Senate Committee on Homeland Defense to address the problem of violence on the southern border, Judicial Watch said.

The Obama administration also rejected an appeal from Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to help quell border violence, the organization reported.

"When will the Mexican government be held to account for its purposeful incursions into our sovereign territory?" asked Fitton.

WND previously has reported on such incidents, including when Mexican army soldiers invaded U.S. territory and held a member of the U.S. Border Patrol at gunpoint.

"Unfortunately, this sort of behavior by Mexican military personnel has been going on for years," a statement from Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council said at the time.

The 2007 documentation revealed dozens of armed incursions by Mexican soldiers and police into the U.S. during fiscal year 2007.